Phase 1 Sustainable Management and Resilience of Arctic Wetlands

Background: Arctic wetlands

The Arctic Council Working Group on the Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) will host an Arctic wetlands workshop in Stockholm 7 to 8 March 2019. The project “Resilience and Management of Arctic Wetlands” is an initiative led by Sweden under CAFF. The project is guided by an international Steering Committee comprising representatives from the Arctic States and indigenous organisations. Funding is provided by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and the Swedish Ministry of the Environment and Energy. The Arctic Wetlands project is composed of three phases and uses a social-ecological systems perspective that approaches humans in nature as interacting elements in a single system.

What is the aim of the project?

This project aims to strengthen engagement on the roles and functions of wetlands as a resource to support sustainable development and resilience in the Arctic. The overall project goal is to use insights from scientific analysis to produce recommendations to support policy development and further develop management strategies to conserve biodiversity and ecosystem services that wetlands provide.

What challenges do wetlands in the Arctic face?

Wetlands areas have often been considered wastelands – areas thought largely useless, even hazardous, due to their waterlogged or water-covered condition through significant periods of the year. This widespread misunderstanding led to wetlands being drained, landfilled, even paved over, depriving both people and nature of wetlands’ many critically important ecosystem functions and benefits to people.

How can the management of wetlands contribute to healthy Arctic ecosystems?

Effective management of Arctic wetlands, including restoration and conservation, holds enormous potential to contribute significantly to climate adaptation and mitigation, protect biodiversity and produce other benefits for both Arctic and non-Arctic peoples and society. Moreover, Arctic wetlands are globally important, through their role as bird habitats and migration pathways, and linkages with climate regulation and other global ecosystem functions.

Which ecosystem functions do wetlands provide?

Almost half the worlds wetlands are located in the Arctic where they make up as much as 60% of all Arctic ecosystems and include a complex mix of peatlands, shallow open waters, wet tundra’s and seashore areas. These areas provide a variety of crucial ecosystems functions and serve as forage and breeding habitats for sensitive wildlife, especially migratory birds and numerous fish species. They play a vital role in supporting the livelihoods and traditional lifestyles of indigenous people through their use for herding, harvesting food (berries) and extracting raw materials for a diverse range of products. Wetlands also store large amounts of carbon in frozen peat and soil. However, these crucial ecosystems are changing at a perilously fast pace, with Arctic wetlands becoming drier due to climate-change driven permafrost degradation and growing pressures from increased human presence. Also, climate change induced permafrost thaw is likely to increase greenhouse gas emissions from peatlands.

Wetland lead countries

Sweden

Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna

"to address the conservation of Arctic biodiversity, and to communicate its findings to the governments and residents of the Arctic, helping to promote practices which ensure the sustainability of the Arctic’s living resources."